1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink set for ink jet recording, an ink jet recording method and an ink jet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
So called ink jet recording apparatuses for recording on a paper sheet, cloth or film by ejecting a liquid or molten solid ink from a nozzle, slit or porous film have been actively investigated considering the advantages of being compact, inexpensive and quiet. Many products capable of full color recording with a good quality of printing on a so-called plain paper sheet such as a copier paper sheet have been sold in the market, and have come to occupy a major position in the field of recording apparatuses.
Compatibility among various required properties has been investigated in the ink jet recording method. In particular, it is crucial that printing speed, quality of monochromatic images and mixed color images on a plain paper sheet, drying ability of the ink and storage stability of the image are compatible with each other while storage stability of the ink and reliability with respect to the ink jet head are satisfied. Since such properties can hardly be satisfied using one kind of ink, various methods have been devised (for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,428,383, 5,198,023, 5,518,534, 5,730,790, 5,181,045, 5,679,143 and 5,488,402, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 6-106735 and 2002-212479). While these technologies have been developed for improving black color images and mixed color images using an ink set including a plurality of inks, it cannot be said that these inks have attained a sufficient quality level with respect to compatibility of other properties, particularly reliability with respect to the ink jet head.
Although intensive studies have been made on compatibility among printing speed, quality of monochromatic images and mixed color images on the plain paper sheet, drying ability of the ink, storage stability of the image and reliability with respect to the ink jet head, the ink jet inks cannot be considered to have attained a sufficient level for satisfying current technical requirements.